Victim's family tells of loss after Taser death

ROBERTO LAUDISIO CURTI came to Sydney to learn English and enjoy Australian life.

But what started as a night out in Kings Cross ended with the wealthy 21-year-old Brazilian orphan dead on a city street after police shot him with a Taser.

Last night, his grieving uncle and sister arrived in Sydney as police completed the autopsy on their loved one.

"We are still coming to terms with the sudden and unexpected loss of our beloved Roberto following his tragic death on Sunday morning … He was a young man who was much loved by family and his many friends, both in Australia and Brazil, and had a promising future ahead of him. We will all miss him immensely," a statement from the family said.

But as police pieced together his final movements on Sunday morning using CBD security cameras, the Brazilian community called for them to release more information about how he died.

The Brazilian Foreign Ministry said it had ordered its consulate in Sydney to assist Mr Laudisio Curti's family and to "obtain the necessary clarifications from the Australian authorities", Agence France-Presse reported.

"He went out just for fun like any other young male on Saturday night and that happened to him, so the family cannot understand it at all," Andre Costa, the Brazilian consul in Sydney, told the ABC yesterday.

"They want to know exactly what happened to this young man, that he was so healthy and a good student, studying at a very good university in Brazil."

Cristina Talacko, the president of the Australia Brazil Chamber of Commerce and a friend of the Laudisio family in Sydney, said they were very respected. "There is nothing against them and no history of any problems in Brazil and here," she said.

Mr Laudisio Curti studied at a Bondi language school. He was living in Sydney with a sister who works for DC Strategy. It is understood her husband is a prominent banker.

The director of the international student agency Information Planet, which brings about 1500 Brazilians to Sydney each year, said the incident had "damaged the world reputation of Australia".

George Lipinski, one of the Sydney-based founders of the iStudent magazine, a publication for international students, said the students he had spoken to were shaken by Mr Laudisio Curti's death.

"We feel horrible. It could happen to any of us," he said, adding that international students told him they often struggled to communicate with police if they had poor English.

On Facebook, some of Mr Laudisio Curti's friends changed their profile photos to an image of him with the words "Justica Luto", which translates to "Justice Mourning".

Police said they believed Mr Laudisio Curti was at a convenience store in King Street about half an hour before he died, where witnesses spoke of him "frothing at the mouth" and making little sense.

It remains unclear how many Tasers were fired as police chased Mr Laudisio Curti.

The NSW Ombudsman's office confirmed it would independently oversee the investigation into Mr Laudisio Curti's death.